Step
by Savannah-Vee
Summary: Slash Backslash 3.0 entry: "I could finally admit to myself that I was attracted to him. That I was more than attracted to him. But he was my stepbrother..." Edward/Jasper


**SLASH BACKSLASH 3.0 CONTEST**

**Title:**Step  
><strong>Author: <strong>Savannah-Vee  
><strong>Pairing: <strong>Edward & Jasper  
><strong>Rating, Disclaimer, and appropriate Warnings: <strong>Rated M. Um, I guess the warning's in the summary. Twilight = I do not own.  
><strong>Word Count: <strong>5647

**Please see all entries at .net/community/Slash_Backslash_3_0/74941/14/0/1/**

I can't say I was happy about it.

It was quite the opposite, actually.

I mean, I had to have some random guy and his two kids move into our home. Why would I be ecstatic about that fact?

And, ok, so the 'random guy' happened to be my mom's fiancée – who she'd been with for about a year and a half.

Still didn't make a fucking difference to my mood.

And the icing on the cake?

I had to share my room.

"Edward?"

My mom was nervous about the whole thing, it was obvious.

I glanced up at her from my spot on the couch. "Yeah, mom?"

"Is your room clean?"

That was, what, the fifteenth time she'd asked that?

I suppressed the eye roll. "It's spotless, mom."

Her smile was weak. "Thank you. Aren't you going to change, though?"

The eye roll was involuntary the second time. "For what? Are Mitch and his clan Texas royalty, or something?"

Mom sighed.

"Look, mom, you asked me to help you clear out the garage, so Mitch could have space to park his truck, and I did. You asked me to help rearrange the living room, so there'd be more space in here for when Mitch and his kids got here. You asked me to clean up my room, give up half the space in my closet and my underwear drawers, and clear off half my shit – sorry, stuff – on my desk, so Mitch's son can have some space, and I did it. And I did all of that without complaint. So cut me some slack about the…"

See, I was doing this thing where I tried not to swear in front of my mom. And it was a _fucking bitch_. So whenever I was about to drop an F bomb I just stopped talking. Mid-sentence. Then I'd say it in my head instead and then continue the sentence, curse-free.

"…shirt. I'm pretty sure Mitch and his clan –"

"Edward, I've told you –"

"Mitch and his _kids _have seen worse t shirts. I mean, they're from…" – _fucking – _"…Texas, not… I dunno, whatever country this shirt would be offensive in."

"It's inappropriate."

That earned another eye roll from me.

And that eye roll caused another sigh from my mom.

She sat down next to me on the couch.

"Edward, I know this is inconvenient for you. I understand. This is gonna take some getting used to for me too, I mean, it's just been the two of us for years and now suddenly there's gonna be five of us." She tilted my face towards her using her thumb and forefinger. "And not only that, you have to share your room. But you know this is only temporary. When we move after the wedding you'll all have your own rooms."

I stayed silent. And poker-faced.

Mom stroked my hair back from my forehead. "But, honestly, I didn't think you'd mind sharing. You and Jasper are the same age. Wouldn't it be fun to share a room with him?"

What planet do parents live on? Seriously. Why would it be 'fun' to have my room and privacy invaded by some dude I barely knew, just because the guy happened to be the same age as me?

I'd only met him twice: two weeks ago during summer vacation, when my mom and I went to stay with them in Texas for three weeks, and last year, when they came to stay with us during the Holidays.

And during those times we barely said two words to each other. I mean, I had nothing in common with the guy. He was _blond_, he dressed like he was an extra on 90210 and listened to bands like _Kings of Leon._

So like I said, I wasn't particularly ecstatic about sharing a house with him, let alone my fucking room.

We heard a car pull up the gravelly driveway and my mom hopped up, smoothing her skirt, her eyes darting around the room like marbles rolling around in her eye sockets. I stood up, too, and she sent me one last, pleading look before the doorbell chimed.

Mitch and his clan had officially arrived.

Half an hour was spent hauling suitcases and shit from Mitch's truck and into the house. I was told to take most of the shit up to the guest room – which was now Mitch's eight year old daughter, Rosalie's bedroom. Not surprising. The girl was a brat.

Then we all stood awkwardly in the rearranged living room, exchanging small talk about how awesome it was going to be, living together – or should I say, only Mitch and my mom were doing that.

Jasper wasn't saying much. Neither was I.

Rosalie, however, just _had _to open her mouth.

She pointed at my t shirt. Read out loud, "_Well? It's not going to suck itself." _And frowned in confusion. "Huh? _What's_ not going to suck itself?"

The look my mom threw me was one I'd dubbed, 'The Momster', and I knew she meant business whenever she did it.

Which is why I didn't even bother protesting when she practically _growled,_ "Go. Change."

I heard Jasper snickering as I made my way up the stairs.

/3\

We stayed out of each others' way for the first few weeks.

We barely said a word to each other.

We were only in my room at the same time when we were both asleep.

And I was starting to think, well, shit, maybe it wasn't going be so bad sharing a room with the guy after all.

Until…

One day, I basically had a double free period at school. Our French teacher didn't show up and they couldn't find a sub so they just gave us a free period to 'study'. And I had a scheduled free period after that.

So I went home.

I mean, ever since Mitch and his clan had moved in with me and my mom the house was always so _full. _No fucking privacy. So I figured since everyone was out at school and work I could just enjoy the space and the quiet for a bit.

And jack off.

You see, if you're sharing your room with another dude it might be a tad awkward to jack off in bed every night.

So I'd had to scrap that routine and attempt jacking off in the shower every morning, instead. But even that didn't work because there was usually someone waiting for the bathroom and I'd get someone banging on the door and telling me to hurry up the minute I'd grabbed my junk and started stroking. And hearing your mom's voice while trying to whack it is one sure way to kill a woody.

So I just _had_ to take the opportunity.

I went into my bedroom, closed the door, sat on my bed with my back leaning against the headboard, unzipped my jeans and pulled my cock out just enough for me to be able to run my hand up and down the shaft.

Then I powered up my laptop, found a video that was guaranteed to have me blowing my load quickly, seeing as I didn't exactly have much time, rubbed some lotion in my palm and got to stroking.

I was half hard before the people in the video had even taken off anything – that's how fucking neglected my cock had been. And I'm not even ashamed to say that within seven minutes of vigorous caressing I could feel myself getting close.

And closer.

And even closer.

And then, so close that just a few more pumps and I'd be –

The bedroom door suddenly opened.

Next thing I knew, Jasper was standing in the doorway.

And I know we're both guys an all, and that I probably wasn't doing anything that he didn't do himself, but if you walk in on a dude rubbing one out, just close the fucking door and leave them at it, you know? Give a guy some privacy.

But he didn't.

He just… _stood there_. Staring.

And… not really at me and what I was doing, but at the –

Holy shit.

At the laptop.

Particularly at the _video_ on the laptop.

"Get the fuck out," I tried to yell, only it came out sounding more like a groan because I was still so fucking close to coming. I mean, you'd think an interruption would have waned the urge to orgasm a little, but nope. It was still there.

And the weirdest fucking thing?

After I spoke Jasper looked up, away from the laptop screen – and right into my eyes.

And that was the exact moment I blew my load.

/3\

"We're thinking of buying the Cullens' old house. Well, if it's still on the market after the wedding, of course."

"Really?" I said around a mouthful of roast chicken and potatoes. "Can you afford it?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full," my mom chided. "And yeah, I guess we can. Our salaries combined should be more than enough to cover a mortgage for it."

The Cullen house was basically a mini mansion.

We called it, 'The Cullen house' because Dr. Cullen and his family had lived there before they'd moved away.

Actually, it was because of Dr. Cullen moving away that Mitch and his clan were able to move here.

My mom's a doctor. Pediatrician, if you wanna get technical. And so is Mitch. Well, Mitch is a doctor, I don't know exactly what type.

Anyway, that's how they met. There was some doctor seminar thing my mom attended in Texas and Mitch happened to be there. They hit it off, obviously, began dating long distance, though they did fly over to visit each other quite a few times. And then he proposed to her about six months ago.

They couldn't figure out who should move. My mom thought it would be easier if she and I moved to Texas, seeing as there were only two of us and three of them, but she was rejected by the three positions she applied for over there. They didn't think she was experienced enough, seeing as she had only practiced medicine in the teeny tiny town of Forks.

So then Dr. Cullen announced he was moving States, and Forks General Hospital became a doctor short. Mitch applied for the position and, of course, he got it because, well, there aren't many doctors in Forks.

So they moved here instead.

I swallowed a piece of chicken. "Cool."

"It's a great house," Mitch chimed in. "It's got a pool, hot tub, space for a gym. All of the six bedrooms have their own bathroom. It's got a huge backyard…"

"Wow! Can we move there now?"

My mom smiled at Rosalie in that patronizing way adults smile at kids. "Not yet, honey, we've gotta pay for the wedding first and then see how much money we'll have left."

I noticed that Jasper kept glancing at me.

He was quiet at dinner, like always, except instead of keeping his eyes on his food like he usually did, they kept flickering up to look at me every now and again.

I noticed, and it was fucking annoying, but I tried to pretend I didn't notice because, frankly, the wanking incident that had happened earlier that day was still playing on my mind.

I mean, I jizzed all over myself while I was looking into the guy's eyes. It made me feel… _weird_.

He'd dropped his eyes and shut the bedroom door a second later, and I'd heard him downstairs in the kitchen while I'd been cleaning myself up.

When I'd gone downstairs afterwards he was sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating a sandwich.

He didn't say anything to me about the incident, didn't say anything to me at all actually, and it made me nervous because I didn't know what he was thinking. I wasn't sure how much, exactly, he'd seen…

"Hey, Edward."

I looked up from my dinner – and ended up looking at him right in his eyes again. Eyes that I hadn't realized – until today – were a luminous, grayish-blue color.

"What?" I replied.

"Pass the gravy boat."

/3\

After the Wanking Incident things changed.

Jasper began to hang out in my room.

I'd go up there to find him sitting on his bed reading a book, or sitting at the desk doing something on his laptop, or sometimes just lying on his bed, listening to music through headphones.

And it pissed me off, because I couldn't hang out in my room if he was in there too.

I don't know why I just… couldn't.

So I said something to him about it.

"Why are you hanging out in my room so much these days?"

He was reading a book. He peered at me over the top of it with those clear, luminous eyes.

"It's not just _your _room anymore."

The comment annoyed me. "It _is_ my room. It'll always be _my_ room."

He just raised an eyebrow and lowered his eyes back to his book. "Whatever, man."

For some reason, that annoyed me even more. "Don't whatever me, dude."

He smirked. He actually _smirked_. And he didn't even bother looking up from his book as he asked, "Or what?"

And that just tipped me over the edge.

I crossed the room to his side and knocked the fucking book out of his hand so it landed on the floor.

He wasn't smirking anymore. "Pick it up."

My own smirk was mocking. "Or what, motherfucker?"

And then his eyes met mine – dead on.

"I think you're getting me confused with my dad."

"What?"

His smirk returned. "I'm not the one fucking your mother…"

And I punched him.

I decked the guy in his nose so hard the fucker fell backwards on his bed.

But he didn't stay there long, because the next thing I knew, all the wind was being kicked out of my stomach and I was falling forward, landing painfully on my knees.

And then we were both on the floor, and I couldn't even feel my fists raining down him the same way I couldn't feel his fists raining down on me.

Neither of us heard my mom running up the stairs.

Neither of us heard Rosalie screaming at us to stop.

Neither of us heard my mom frantically calling Mitch, who was outside on the driveway cleaning his truck.

/3\

I sure _felt _and _heard _every fucking thing later, though.

"What were you _thinking_?" My mom was yelling at me.

Not exactly helping the headache situation I had going on.

It was difficult speaking through a swollen lip. "Why am I the only one being yelled at, exactly?"

"Actually, Mitch is speaking to Jasper in the kitchen. And from what I gather, _you_ were the one who started it."

I tried to look outraged – but the ache in my jaw soon scrapped that idea.

Instead I just muttered, "Yeah, well, if you knew what he said you'd be fucking thanking me for defending your honor."

Only, of course, the only part of that she heard was 'fucking'.

"And now you're _swearing_ at me? What the hell has gotten into you?" She shrieked.

"What? No, I –"

"You're grounded. Get out of here, I don't even wanna look at you, right now."

So I fucked off to the one place I was guaranteed peace and privacy and alone time: my car.

I sat in there that whole Saturday afternoon, until it started getting dark and my mom finally felt a modicum of sympathy for me.

She tapped on the window.

I rolled it down a little.

"Your dinner's still warm, if you want it. I left your plate in the oven."

"Thanks," I replied. And my stomach started doing a happy dance at the mere mention of food.

My aching jaw and my swollen lip, however, seemed to hurt a little more, in protest.

Because trying to eat was gonna be a bitch.

/3\

After the fight, I didn't particularly like the guy.

I'd been pretty much indifferent to him before, but now that I knew what a dick he could be?

We ignored each other.

We acted like the other wasn't even there when we passed each other in the halls at school, when we were both in my room doing homework, when we were both in the kitchen making something to eat.

Mom and Mitch invented these 'family nights' as a way to try and get us to talk to each other, but they never worked.

After a while my mom just got tired of it.

"Edward, this is ridiculous now," she said. "How can you live in the same house with somebody and not speak to them at all?"

"Easy," I answered.

She sighed. "He's going to be your brother. Please try to work out this… animosity between yourselves."

"Step."

Mom looked confused. "What?"

"He's going to be my _step_brother."

I always felt compelled to correct someone when they referred to the guy as just my 'brother'.

/3\

I was on my bed, making out with this chick from my biology class, Bella, when he walked into the bedroom.

And the asshole just parked his ass on his bed and started reading – like he couldn't see us getting hot and heavy at the other side of the room.

It shouldn't have mattered that he was there. I mean, it was no different from one of the countless times we'd be hanging out at Mike Newton's and he and his girlfriend, Jessica, would start tonguing on the recliner opposite us. It wasn't like I was fucking her.

But for some reason, I couldn't concentrate on it when he was just sitting there, across the room.

Bella was still into it, though. Her hand had even begun wandering down to my crotch, and she squeezed me through my jeans when she got there.

Thing is though, I should have lost the boner by then. I wasn't into the make out session with Bella anymore so I shouldn't have still been aroused.

My cock obviously hadn't gotten the memo.

I grabbed Bella's wandering hand and intertwined her fingers with my own, essentially stopping her attentions on my cock, because honestly, this shit was just plain awkward.

I kissed her on the mouth one last time and used my free hand to gently tug at her hair so she would look up at me.

"Let's continue this some other time."

She pouted. "Why?"

I tugged on her hair again when she started leaning forward – towards my lips.

"My mom and stepdad are gonna be home soon. We're not allowed girls in the bedroom."

"Oh, right." She ran her fingers through my tousled hair. "That sucks."

"I know."

She was straddling my thighs so I started sitting up, hoping she would get a fucking clue and get off me.

She did.

She swung her leg over my body and hopped off my bed, straightening her shirt and skirt, fixing her hair.

She glanced over at the other side of the room. "Oh hey, Jasper. How are you?"

He glanced up at her from his book. "I'm ok. You?"

Bella smiled brightly. "I'm great. Well," – She turned to me – "See you at school tomorrow, Edward." She turned back to him. "And you, Jasper."

And then she was gone.

Five minutes later, though, I was still hard.

Why? I couldn't fucking figure it out. I wasn't even _into_ Bella that much.

The room was silent, as it normally was, seeing as Jasper and I were still pretending the other didn't exist. All I could hear from him was the slight rustling of paper whenever he turned the page of his book.

Well, that was until he lowered his book to his lap and turned to look at me.

I was studiously ignoring him, so it took me a little while to notice that he was staring at me. I only realized when I happened to glance in his direction one time.

I frowned as I met his eyes. "What?"

"Who're you trying to kid? Yourself or everyone else?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

His eyes left mine for a second and traveled down… fuck knows what he was looking at. But the way he did it made my face grow hot.

"You're not into girls."

The way he said that – so matter of fact – pissed me off so much I missed the gravity of his statement for a few seconds. But when I eventually got it, my face grew even hotter.

Still, playing ignorant was a good idea. "What the hell does that mean?"

He smirked that infuriating know-it-all smirk. "You know what I mean."

By then I was pretty sure it was fucking obvious I knew what he meant. And not just because of the color of my face.

So I just stood up… to find that my hard on was still ever present, turned around and adjusted it, and made my way to the bedroom door.

I needed to get away from the guy.

He was still smirking as I passed him.

"Don't even bother trying to deny it," he called out after me as I walked out the room. "I saw your laptop."

/3\

Ever since the Wanking Incident I'd tried to ignore the possibility that he'd seen what I was whacking off to on my laptop.

I mean, I guess I'd known that he'd probably seen it, he got a pretty good look at the screen, but still, I'd just… pretended that maybe he hadn't.

Pretended that maybe he might have thought the guy sucking off the other guy was just a skinny girl with short hair… or something.

Yeah, right.

But still, even though I'd sort of known that he knew, it was only then, after he'd revealed that he knew that I felt fucked.

I was literally pacing the kitchen when I felt a presence looming in the doorway – his presence. Rosalie was out at her friend's, mom and Mitch were still at work.

I whirled around to look at him, my eyes following him as he sauntered over to the fridge, pulled out a bottle of water and started gulping it down.

"It's none of your business," I said to him.

He took a few more gulps of his water before he answered, "I know. I never said it was."

"So don't ask me questions about it."

He shrugged a shoulder. "Alright."

Then, half full bottle of water in his hand, he started walking back out of the kitchen.

The way my hand shot out to grab his upper arm as he passed me was almost involuntary.

He stopped walking but didn't look at me.

"Don't tell anyone."

He looked at me then. His eyes met mine. "Why would I."

So I let go of his bicep – which was rock hard, by the way – and mumbled, "Ok. Thanks."

He just nodded and carried on walking.

/3\

Things changed between us again, after that day.

I mean, maybe it was because I was grateful to the guy for not blabbing my big secret or something, but I stopped the whole ignoring him thing. We still didn't speak much, but I figured that that was just because Jasper was a quiet guy. I didn't even mind him hanging out in our bedroom while I was in there, anymore. Honestly, I actually _liked_ hanging out in there with him.

At dinner, he started doing that thing again. That thing where he kept glancing at me every few minutes when he thought I wasn't looking.

But I always saw him… because I was always looking.

In fact, I was probably looking at him just as much…

It was weird. He was still mostly a stranger to me, despite my having lived with him for almost four months, and yet, he knew the one thing no one – not even my own mother – knew about me.

/3\

I walked into our bedroom to find Alice Brandon sitting cross legged on his bed with him.

They were sitting pretty close, their sides pressed together, her head touching his as they leaned over to peer at the open text books spread out around them.

Alice looked up when I walked in. "Oh hey, Edward." She smiled. "Guess who got lucky enough to be partnered with your brainbox brother, here," – she nudged Jasper with her bony elbow – "for their World History project?"

"Step."

She frowned in confusion. "Huh?"

"He's my _step_brother."

"Oh!" She laughed. "Yeah, whatever. Hey, you know what Jasper and I –"

"Tell me some other time," I interrupted her. "You should be working on your project, right? I only came in here to get my hoody anyway."

I was being an asshole and I knew it.

It wasn't that I didn't like Alice Brandon, or anything. I mean, she was ok, a little excitable at times, but overall a sweet girl.

But, for some reason, I was in a shitty mood.

Funny thing about that was, my mood had only turned sour when I'd stepped into the bedroom. I'd been perfectly fine before that. And I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why.

"What's up with you?"

Jasper was standing there, holding two cans of Coke.

I shrugged and pretended to be deeply engrossed in what was going on on the TV. "Nothing. Why'd you ask?"

He shrugged too. "You just seemed kinda pissed off up there."

I shook my head. Tried to look confused. "Nah. I'm cool."

He didn't say anything for a few seconds. And I could feel him, staring at me. "Alright," he said, eventually. And turned to go back up the stairs.

/3\

"I know you said no questions, but can I ask you something?"

The only reason I whispered back, "Ok," was because I knew he wouldn't be able to see me in the dark.

"You ever been with a guy? I mean, like…" – I heard him swallow – "you know, sexually."

"No."

"You ever been with a guy at all?"

"No."

It was deadly silent over on his side of the room for about a minute.

"How come you don't mind?" I asked him, breaking the silence. "You know, about me being… what I am?"

"Why should I?"

I shrugged into the darkness. "It's weird. Wrong."

"Do you really think that?"

"No. But a lot of people do," I answered.

"I don't."

After another few minutes of us not saying anything, he asked,

"You ever been with a girl? I mean, more than just making out."

"Sex?"

"Yeah."

"No."

I heard him shuffling around on his bed. And for some reason I just knew he had turned over to look in my direction. And even though I knew he couldn't really see my face, it made the conversation feel even more embarrassing.

"Why not?" He asked.

I shifted uncomfortably on my own bed. "I don't know. It's weird with girls. I mean, I think I'm attracted to them but… I've never really wanted to fuck them. It's like, kissing is ok, and even grabbing a pair of boobs can turn me on, but beyond that? Not interested."

"Do you think you'd wanna do it with guys? Sex, I mean."

The sudden images that his question stirred up in my mind got me hard.

And freaked the fuck out.

Because the dude that was with me in all these sexual scenarios I was suddenly picturing myself in?

Was Jasper.

"You still awake?"

The sound of his voice startled me.

"Uh, yeah."

"Sorry. Didn't mean to get so forward with the questions."

"No, it's not that – I mean, you didn't."

"Ok," he said. There was an awkward pause and then, "Well, I'm gonna go to sleep now. Goodnight."

"Night," I replied back.

But sleep was the last thing on my mind.

/3\

"Your brother asked me to ask you to wait for him after school. Says he needs a ride."

Fuck. Last thing I needed was to be stuck in a car with him, even if it was only for ten minutes.

"_Step_brother. And did he say why? He usually rides home with Peter."

Emmett shrugged. "I don't know, man. He just told me to tell you to wait for him 'cause he needs a ride."

I'd been avoiding Jasper all week. After that conversation in the dark, and then those thoughts of him I'd had to psychically restrain myself from jacking off to, I couldn't be around him.

It was fucking gross. Wrong. He was my _stepbrother_ for fuck's sake.

It was difficult though, trying to avoid a guy you shared a room with. And school was really the only place I could avoid him completely. I knew his schedule so it was easy for me to plan alternate routes to my classes so I wouldn't have to bump into him in the halls. That was why he'd had to give Emmett the message for me. He couldn't find me.

I waited in my car for him after school. I was aiming to be in there with him for as little time as possible.

When I caught a glimpse of him sauntering over the parking lot towards me I started the engine up. And he'd barely shut the door before the car was moving.

I could see him looking at me with a raised eyebrow as I sped out of the school compound and onto the road.

"What's the rush?" He asked.

I just shrugged.

The drive lasted seven minutes, instead of ten.

But felt more like seventy.

/3\

The very first time it happened, it had been eight months since they'd moved in with us.

It was shortly after my mom and Mitch got married, so we were actually stepbrothers by then, not just, 'soon to be' stepbrothers.

Mom and Mitch were on their honeymoon. Rosalie was staying at a friend's until they got back. So it was just Jasper and me alone together.

For two weeks.

And I couldn't exactly avoid him when there were only two of us in the house.

"Whoa. Have you _seen_ all this food?"

I nodded. "My mom's thinks we're gonna die of starvation while they're gone, obviously."

He shut the fridge and cracked open a can of soda. Snickered. "How much does she think we need to eat? There's probably enough food in there to last us about a month."

I don't know if he could feel the fucking tension that permeated the air whenever we were within a few feet of each other. Because I certainly could. Or maybe that was just a figment of my perverted mind.

I could finally admit to myself that I was attracted to him. That I was more than attracted to him. That, shit, I wanted him more than I'd ever wanted anybody in my life.

But he was my stepbrother.

And if he hadn't been my stepbrother it wouldn't have made a difference anyway because he wasn't into guys.

"Are you ok?"

When I snapped out of my thoughts he was standing inches before me.

Startled me so bad I nearly fell backwards off the mini island.

"I'm fine."

"You look a little…" he trailed off, his eyes studying my face.

And, fuck, I couldn't take the way he did that. The way his eyes would narrow ever so slightly, and he'd clench down on his teeth so his jaw line would pulse a few times, and it was like _he knew_, you know? Like he could see every thought that was running through my head at that moment.

I hopped off the island so fast he had to step back or I would have crashed into him.

But when I went into the living room he only followed me in there.

And when I sat down on the couch… he sat next to me.

"Jesus," I muttered.

He heard me but didn't say anything.

And we just sat there with the TV on, and he sipped on his soda, and I twiddled my thumbs.

And that tension?

It was reaching atomic bomb status.

After a long, _agonizing_ stretch of nothing, he shook his head.

"This is nuts."

"I know, right?" I answered. "Do people actually _like _watching this crap?"

"I'm not talking about the show, Edward."

He was looking at me. I could see him from the corner of my eye.

So, reluctantly, I turned to meet his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"This. This… _thing_ between us."

And I swear, even at that point I didn't get what he meant. Because I still thought he was straight.

Until he put his hand on the side of my face.

And he said, "I have to live with you. Share and sleep in the same room as you. Sit opposite you at the dinner table. See you at school. And now, I have to stay here with you. Alone. For two fucking weeks." He pushed back his blond hair with his free hand. Shook his head again. "It's driving me crazy."

I swallowed. Hard. "What do you mean?"

His grey eyes bore into mine. "You know what I mean."

"Fuck."

His mouth lifted at the corner in a half smile. "I know."

And then he leaned forward...

And even though it was so fucking difficult to do it – I pulled back. Pulled away from him. Pulled out of his hold. Because there was still a shred of sense left inside my lust addled brain.

I shook my head. "Christ, Jasper, this… this is so fucking wrong. I mean… you're my brother."

His hand cupped the back of my neck, and I could feel his fingers in the hair at my nape. He leaned towards me again, this time so close our noses touched.

"Step," he whispered.

And pressed his mouth against mine.

/3\


End file.
